Affordability for Renters Worsens "Across Board" in Philadelphia Area
Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia
(1-23-13)

 

While housing affordability challenges were greatest for extremely low-income renters, affordability indicators worsened across the board for renters in the Third Federal Reserve District between 2005 and 2010, according to a study by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s Community Development Studies Education Department. Of the 1.4 million renter households in the Third District in 2010, half spent more than 30 percent of their income on gross rent (including utilities), a level typically referred to as a housing cost burden. This share drifted up gradually from 44 percent in 2005. The level was highest for extremely low-income renters earning no more than 30 percent of the local median family income. However, the rates for very low-income and low-income renters grew by 5 and 10 percentage points, respectively, during the period. In total, 29 percent of renter households in the Third District had a severe housing cost burden in 2010, an increase of 5 percentage points in five years.

(1-17-13)

 

"Force-placed insurance" appears 478 times in the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's mortgage servicing rules released last Thursday. But the agency's proscriptions do not touch on many of the most controversial aspects about how banks buy the product. That's the broad opinion of consumer advocates, insurance market observers, and Assurant, the largest insurer in the market for the specialty product. The force-placed insurance rule generally sticks to a proposal that the CFPB floated last year and the terms of the national mortgage servicing settlement, neither of which has had a significant effect on industry practices. This may reflect at least in part the bureau's jurisdictional limits; under Dodd-Frank it is authorized to regulate mortgage servicing but not insurance — an industry that largely comes under the purview of state regulators.